Meryl Streep Bashes Walt Disney: "He Was Racist And a Gender Bigot"

When Meryl Streep hopped on stage Tuesday to honor her longtime friend and fellow actress, Emma Thompson, at the National Board of Review awards, she gave the audience a little more information than they bargained for.

While introducing Emma, who recently starred in Saving Mr. Banks, the story of how Walt Disney and P.L. Travers struggled to bring Mary Poppins to life, Meryl ended up going on a rant about Walt — and his lack of redeeming qualities.

It almost seems like a sin to speak ill of the man responsible for Frozen, The Little Mermaid, and the happiest place on earth, but legendary actress Meryl wasn’t afraid. In what she called the “long, bitter, more truthful” version of her speech, she praised Emma — and totally let Walt have it.

“He formed and supported an anti-Semitic industry lobbying group,” the August: Osage County actress said, “and he was certainly, on the evidence of his company’s policies, a gender bigot.”

Die hard Disney fans, fear not — The Hollywood Reporter turned to Disney experts to debunk these claims and found out that the guy who brought us Mickey Mouse isn’t quite as bad as Meryl makes him out to be.

From there, Meryl went on to say that awards season itself is “really ridiculous” and that “we have made so many beautiful movies this year, and to single one out seems unfair.”